A casual kind of something
by They're twitterpated
Summary: "It isn't like she's one night stand-ing him. He knows where she lives, he knows where she works, and he knows she'll be back." - Derek and Casey navigate a relationship and walk a line between casual and not so casual. Dasey.
1. Chapter 1

An: Okay, I started something new today so I thought I would share what I have so far. Might be a two-shot or might be a multi-chapter depending on where the story goes and the feedback I receive. So review and let me know what you think :) Enjoy. PS. I don't own LWD.

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CHAPTER 1

She doesn't normally spend the night in his room. They aren't together after all and she's only a short walk down the hall and one staircase away from her own room and bed. But last night, while she was in a sleepy haze, he wrapped his hands tightly around her waist before drifting off, and she let him. So when she wakes up she's a little disoriented. This is totally new territory, waking up next to Derek.

Is she supposed to wake him before she leaves? It feels kind of rude not to, but it isn't like she's one night stand-ing him. He knows where she lives, he knows where she works, and he knows she'll be back.

If she does wake him are they going to kiss goodbye? They've never kissed without it leading to its inevitable end in one of their dorm room beds. Although it sounds silly, she really can't imagine a "good morning" kiss with Derek. She knows logically it must involve a lot less tongue and teeth than their usual kissing, but the concept is surprisingly quite disappointing to her. Sure, Casey has always been a romantic, even too much of a romantic some may say (*coughderekcough*) but there's something entirely addicting about the rough passionate way that Derek kisses her. It makes her feel like, in that moment, she's the only thing he needs, and isn't that kind of romantic? Not that their relationship is romantic, per say. The way he actually ripped the buttons off her shirt once is probably much more telling of a sexual relationship. And of course there's the sort of disregarded familial relationship that they try their best not to think about. She certainly isn't thinking about their home in London when she's pulling his hockey jersey over his head.

She's snapped out of her deliberations when she hears the bed creaking from beside her. She turns to see Derek rubbing his eyes before a lazy smirk covers his face due to her current state of semi-undress.

"No. I have class in an hour." She says in warning. And all her worries about this being awkward float away, because it isn't different or weird, it's as easy and thoughtless as ever. It shouldn't be. Him watching her dress, seeing his naked body roll across the bed they had shared, having sex with him, it shouldn't feel so normal, but it is.

"Come on, I'll make it quick. We could do it in the shower!" he "bargains" with extreme enthusiasm in his voice.

"No Derek. Those are shared showers. People would hear us." She says slipping her jeans back on before he passes her one of his t-shirts. She's going to say no, or at least comment on this "him loaning her clothing" thing, 'cause this is new as well, but she doesn't really want to go through the effort of buttoning up that tight blouse to walk up the stairs and take it off again. Besides he cuts off her consideration again with his comment of, "As if they don't already. These walls are pretty damn thin Case. Not to mention that you're pretty damn loud."

"Der-ek!" she yelps, embarrassed and offended. Honestly she had never thought about that before, and the fact that he's right is sort of mortifying. He just rolls his eyes and while she's putting his shirt on he pulls on a pair of boxers from the floor and then walks to the door to open it for her.

"Tomorrow night?" he asks with his hand on the handle but the door still firmly closed, like he wants to make sure she'll come back before he lets her go, because sometimes he wonders if she's going to snap back into reality and call the whole thing off without any warning.

"After your game, yeah." she nods with a soft smile. It's routine, and it's not like he really needs to ask, but he always does.

"Kay" he says nonchalantly, opening the door and letting her walk by. However, as she does so she's kind of preoccupied with the image of him standing in the doorway in his underwear and the way that the light from the hallway is making his tired eyes (tired from her, she mentally notes) squint, so she bumps into someone coming from the opposite direction.

He immediately laughs, sure he might have….feelings for her but he's still Derek and she's still a klutz.

"I'm sorry!" she says quickly to the girl who she recognizes from a couple doors down.

"It's fine," she brushes it off simply, but then she turns and sees Derek kind of naked before looking back to Casey. It's not like her grad grubber reputation has followed her here or anything, but she definitely still falls into the "good girl" category and Derek, well he's a hockey star and during the first weeks of wild parties he'd gone on a bit of a binge, both alcohol and girl wise, so he retained the same "cool stud" status he'd always held. So yes, the sight of his door still open and Casey leaving in a baggy men's t-shirt is a bit surprising and totally gossip worthy. The words that follow: "Are you and Derek dating?" aren't a surprise. Actually they'd gotten that before, a few times, but now the answer is fuzzier than ever.

Yet she answers, "No! No. No." extremely quickly, reflexively.

It's not like he was about to volunteer an answer, but he realizes instantly that wasn't what he wanted to hear leaving Casey's mouth.

"No, we would never, could never, be a couple! No." she doesn't know why words keep coming out, but she feels all the familiar angst and taboo from their high school years flooding back. There's a reason why they weren't telling anyone. It hasn't been a secret exactly, but it wasn't common knowledge either, not that it needed to be, because it was just a casual kind of… something.

"Right." The girl says, because while Casey's outfit and Derek's sex hair are pretty telling of the situation at hand, it's university. They aren't anything special here and neither is sex.

Casey nods quickly in Derek's direction before continuing her journey down the hall and he feels like such a girl because he finds himself angry that she hadn't stuck around to talk about what just happened.


	2. Chapter 2

_Alright, so it has been a long time. -_ _I_ _know._

 _I had this on my laptop though and thought why not post it, since you'd all been so kind with your comments._

 _I have one more chapter for this story that is very rough and I'm not happy with it, but if you guys are interested in reading it let me know! I might be able to be_ _persuaded_ _to fix it up - though i'm not sure i'll ever be on the same train of thought as I was for the first chapter. Less is more or something is better than nothing? - let me know._

 _Enjoy some_ _Dasey_ _angst._

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She scurries to her room (doesn't dare to look back) and doesn't think about it.

She showers (without him) and gets dressed (without him watching her) and doesn't think about it.

She goes to class all day and totally doesn't think about it (when she goes to that one poetry class that she'd taken as her elective and scribbles down angsty lines about day and night it has nothing to do with him, really).

And no matter how many times she tells herself this there's no way anyone is going to believe it.

She's cursing that stupid girl (yes, actually cursing with words she's gotten used to hearing come from Derek's mouth) for asking that stupid question, because she had to answer, right?

Derek wasn't going to, and if he did he'd have said the same thing. Because they weren't dating. That was the truth. They'd never spoken of dating, or labels, or any of that couple-y stuff, because they weren't a couple. Because like she'd said they could never be a couple.

Just because the sex is good (really, really, really, good) doesn't mean they're suddenly soul mates.

And just because she normally spends her Saturday nights with him that doesn't make it a "date night".

And the fact that he knows how she likes her tea and she can read his hidden (self proclaimed non-existent) emotions doesn't make them an old married couple (as their friends having jokingly referred to them).

And if they study together, or watch a movie, or go to the bar, that's fine, because they're friends. Yes, friends with benefits. There's even a name for it so clearly she and Derek aren't the only people in the world with a messy relationship.

And the way that she smiles brightly and genuinely at him, or forgives him when he's acting like an entitled ass (once he provides a Derek apology of course – which doesn't always look like a normal apology but she's spent so long hunting them she can catch them with unparalleled precision- he'll pay for the take out, he'll open the car door for her, he'll let her choose a movie and then complain about it), or feels so content and comfortable when she's naked in his bed, doesn't mean that she's in love.

And because Casey had spent so long living in denial she had decided to buy property there so that she can return as often and for as long as she likes.

She doesn't come to his room the next night, even though they have a standing date (he uses the term extremely loosely in the most colloquial sense) for after his hockey games. Not to mention the fact that he outright asked her and she had confirmed. Of course that was also before they were outed and she completely denied any kind of feelings towards him.

At first he took it as typical Casey awkwardness. Not that it didn't sting, it did, but he wasn't taking it too personally. Now, sitting in his dorm room alone at 1am (the time when he should have his fingers tightly knotted in Casey's hair as she mumbles his name from underneath him) he reconsiders. Derek isn't the sad, late night ruminating type but he's always had this lingering doubt when it comes to Casey. He'd always known, and had never been very shy about his attitude towards her. Casey on the other hand had lived in denial for years and she was generally quick to flip flop when confronted or reprimanded. He knew when she really believed in something she would fight for it no matter what the cost. It was something he'd always admired about her, that determination, passion, complete commitment. But she'd never had that attitude towards them once. She was fine when things were breezy, offhand, or hidden, but when it got real she caved.

Every single time.

That had been fine in high school, when their parents were around every corner. Then he could get by with touching her only when they danced (which somehow happened, through his own creation, a lot) and only helping her after a masterfully constructed prank reached its sweet finale. Now though, he'd come to terms with the reality of his feelings for her.

He wanted her.

All of her.

All the time.

And her not feeling the same way might just drive him crazy.


End file.
